"It's amazing. Coming into this week I didn't really have any expectations," she said.

"I didn't even think about making the finals or winning it. I just tried my best, and I felt very comfortable here.

"Today was a great match. Venus is always very tough – she's a great champion and showed that again today. I'm just happy that after losing that second set I managed to stay calm and close it out."

Williams commented: "Today for me it was all about fighting, because I didn't feel I was playing my best. I fought as hard as I could no matter what the score was, but I just ran into a better player today."